The Sqaudron Supreme Through Space and Time

SPACE

The Squadron Earth has many cities and states known by names different from those on the Marvel Earth. With the help of The Atlas of the DC Universe and and a more conventional atlas, I've attempted to correlate the places.

City	DC Universe Equivalent	Marvel Universe Equivalent	Notes
Alamo Town Olmstead	San Antonio?	San Antonio, TX	Raid on the Westinger gun factory there
Angelopolis	??	??	??
Atomic City Herculanea	Coast City, CA	Lancaster (Edwards AFB), CA? White Sands, NM?	Dr. Spectrum's home Launchsite of Brainchild-1
Capitol City Magelland	Washington, DC	Washington, DC	Hyperion in SS #1 said he overheard Nighthawk talking to Washington. He meant Herb Washington, President Richmond's personal secretary
Cosmopolis New Troy	Metropolis/Gotham City	Manhattan, NY	Home of Hyperion's newspaper colleagues and Nighthawk's Mansion (one of)
Fort Largo	??	??	Insurrection by the armed forces being disarmed
Franklintown New Babylon	Star City, CA	Hollywood, CA	Home of the Golden Archer and Lady Lark
Harbor City	??	??	In a warehouse on the docks the Shape was un-B-Modded
Hegeltown Danteana	??	Pittsburgh?	Foundry where Dr. Spectrum was melting down seized weapons
Jonesville Sylvania	Middleton, CO	??	Hometown of James Doe (alias of the Skrull)
Knickerbocker City	??	??	Hometown of Nelson Rockefeller
Maslow Moreland	Happy Harbor, RI?	??	About 35 miles southwest of the landing spot of Rocket Central Squadrons cave headquarters nearby?
Mayflower Freedonia	??	Plymouth, Massachusetts?	Home of the American Eagles
Mechanopolis Sigmund	Central City, IL	??	Home of the Whizzer Located on Interstate 80
Metzburg Danteana	Calvin City or Ivytown, CT	Bridgeport, CT	Birthplace of Tom Thumb
Motor City Wyandota	Detroit?	Detroit, MI	Home of Nuke
Pommerschen New Troy	??	??	Home of Arcana Jones
Schrodinger Olmstead	??	??	Birthplace of Foxfire

As can be seen, The states are even known by different names, here is a compilation of the data given so far.

State	Cities	Marvel Universe Equivalent	Notes
Danteana	Hegeltown Metzburg	Connecticut	The name Danteana (as in "inferno") may suggest an industrialized state
Freedonia	Mayflower	Massechussets	.
Herculanea	Atomic City	California? New Mexico?	The Soutwest coast may be split into more than one state See New Babylon
Huxley?	Huxley State Prison	??	In the West, on a fault line
Magelland	Capital City	Could be a district, or could be Maryland or Virginia	The states may have not given up their territory
Moreland	Maslow	Rhode Island?	Contains Rangeley Mountain Range and the cavern headquarters of the Squadron Supreme
New Babylon	Franklintown	California	Has got to be a reference to Hollywood: Babylon
New Troy	Cosmopolis Pommerschen Knickerbocker City?	New York	.
New Wesley	None Known	New Jersey?	Across the George Orwell Bridge from New Troy
Niagra	None Known	??	Western New York State perhaps the "Empire State" does not extend that far on Squadron Earth
Olmstead	Alamo City Shrodinger	Texas	.
Sigmund	Mechanopolis Laington Santayana City	??	.
Sylvania	Jonesville	Colorado?	.
Vesperia	None Known	.	Home of the Federal Penitentiary that was site of the first demonstration of the B-Mod device.
Winnebago	None Known	Wisconsin	Named for Indian tribe in area Might extend further south Nuke said he was going north when travelling to Motor City
Wyandota	Motor City	Michigan	Named for Indian tribe in area

Well, that sucks the fun right out of it. The trouble with being a completist.

What I was really interested in is the History of the Squadron.

Time

We'll start off with a few questions to set the terms.

Q: I know the vagarities of "comic-book time", did the Squadron Supreme Limited Series really take a year?

A: I would say yes. The Squadron asked for a set period of time for their Utopia Project, this would not have dramatic impact if retconned into "a few months" or "some time". Mark Gruenwald also designed the series without those cliffhangers that reqire zero time to pass in the month between comics and lead to the compression of comic-book time. Indeed, he has built in lacunae (look it up) between the issues and in some of the issues themselves.

As to when it did occur; 1985 (one year after 1984) would still be appropriate, except for the new one-shot (see below). There are three years mentioned in the Squdron Supreme Limited series, 1985 [the death of Nuke's parents], 1958 [birth of Olivia Underwood (Foxfire)] and 1970 [Scarlet Centurion first fought the original Squadron Supreme]. In the tradition of Olshevsky I will treat the years as "topical", dating events from the Utopia Project (denoted as UP), but I will keep the length of time their differences indicate.

Q: So, did a Marvel year pass between the Squadron appearrances in Defenders #115 (Jan'83) and Quasar #13 (Aug '90)?

A: Perhaps, at one time. Marvel-time compresses as events shrink to fit the current conception that the Fantastic Four's rocket flight took place "ten years ago". Since we accept a difference between time on Marvel-Earth and (to coin a phrase) "Earth-Prime", why not a time difference between Marvel-Earth and Squadron-Earth?

Q: How much Squadron-Earth time passed between 1989 (Sqadron Supreme Graphic Novel Death of a Universe) and 1998 (Squadron Supreme One-Shot New World Order)?

A: Alas, not nine years, the children left behind have not become teenagers. The introductory text (from a Marvel viewpoint) speaks of "months," but twice characters on the Squadron-Earth speak of "years."

And now, the Timeline...

The Distant Past

10 Billion y B.C. (approx)

Birth of the Universe
Based on assumption of parallel history

4.5 Billion y B.C. (approx)

Formation of Earth and the Solar System
Based on assumption of parallel history

Umpteen Million y B.C. (approx)

The Elder gods are driven off the Earth, but Set forms plans for his return
Story of the Serpent Crown. I really must buy the Atlantis Attacks annuals

1776 A.D.

Birth of the United States. A Constitution is written guaranteeing, among other things, Freedom of Speech, Due Process of Law, and the Right to Bear Arms.
Future presidents will include George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, and -most recently- Hubert Humphrey, John Rockefeller, Kyle Richmond, and Jules Gardner.
Based on assumption of parallel history. The first four presidents listed have their faces carved on President's Mountain (suggesting their version of Mt. Rushmore took longer to complete than ours)

1860's

Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, is assassinated
Kyle Richmond contemplated both Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth while preparing to kill Hyperion

The Recent Past

UP - 40 y (approx)

The '40's
The Big War
The Golden Agency is formed, including the members Power Princess, American Eagle, and Professor Imam.

UP - 41 y

Thomas Thompson born
WSQS-TV special report on his funeral (SS#10)

UP - 38 y

Sticken with a pituitary abnormality, Thompson stops growing at 3 feet 7 inches
WSQS report

UP - 27 y

Olivia Underwood born in Schrodinger, Olmstead. She will become a supervillain under the codename Foxfire.
SS#9, 4:4

UP - 24 y

Thomas Thompson has already earned PhDs in math, physics, and electrical engineering
WSQS report

Undated Event

Hyperion, Nighthawk, Power Princess, Amphibian, the Whizzer, Doctor Spectrum, and the Skrull join forces to defeat a giant robot, and decide to stay together to form the Squadron Supreme
A one panel flashback in SS#1

UP - 15 y

The Scarlet Centurion makes his first known appearance in the 20th Century, displacing iron objects and other mineral resources from Cosmopolis to his own, resource-poor 41th Century. The original Squadron Supreme drive him from this time.
SS#9, 5:3

Undated Events

• Institute of Evil is formed by the Scarlet Centurion to oppose the original members of the Squadron Supreme as unwitting pawns in a game of the Grandmaster.
  Seen in Squadron records in SS#9
• Tom Thumb, scientific adventure is the first recruit of the Squadron.
  OHTOMUDE claims he is the third recruit, after Hawkeye (later the Golden Archer) and Lady Lark, but the WSQS report shows Tom being welcomed by the original members of the Squadron (minus Amphibian and the hidden Skrull) and much is made of his having no super powers, which would not be so remarkable if Hawkeye had already been a member.
• Tom Thumb is able to repair the Skrull's starship and send him back to space.
  OHOTMUDE, the New World Order one-shot suggest the Skrull was not actually able to travel into deepspace, and remained hidden on Earth.
• Hawkeye, a costumed adventurer, meets Linda Lewis. Later, after an accident in which her vocal cords are severed, Dr. Decibel treats her, but gives her hyperamplified vocal cords in an attempt to use her as a weapon. Hawkeye comforts her and teaches her crimefighting, eventually getting her also inducted into the Squadron.
  SS#4, 19:2
  More of this story needs to be told, was Dr. Decibel a known criminal (a member of the original Institute of Evil) when he was requested to perform the emergency operation?
• American Eagle, son of the original American Eagle, joins the Squadron.
  OHOTMUDE list him as fourth recruit.
• Power Princess and Amphibian at some point take leaves of absence from the team.
• The Brainchild affair.
  Avengers #85,86

Before UP - 10 y

Tom Thumb completes Rocket Central, a manned, orbiting headquarters for the Squadron.
SS#1, 33:3 Tom reflects that it has been his only home for ten years or so

Undated Events

• Nighthawk adopts a new costume.
• American Eagle has a political argument with his father and adopts the costumed identity of "Cap'n Hawk"
• Power Princess and Amphibian may have rejoined the team
• Power Princess takes another leave
  All of the above is speculation based on one panel of flashback. Nighthawk recalls how the team used to be unified and he imagines a tableau of ten of the classic members (not the Skrull, Arcana, or Nuke). American Eagle is in his Cap'n Hawk iteration and Nighthawk is in his current costume.
  We know Nighthawk changed from his outfit of Avengers 86 to "these old togs" which he hung up to go into politics, but the other details could just be his own inaccurate memories.

UP - 8.5 y

Kyle Richmond leaves superheroing for politics and is elected to Congress.
Assuming the industrialist's political plans began the election cycle before the presidential election

UP - 6.5 y

Nelson Rockefeller is elected president.

Undated Events

• Sepent Crown Affair
  Avengers #141-149
• Presidet Rockefeller resigns
• The League of Nations starts filming on a movie of Hyperion's life.
  Thor #280
• Arcana joins the Squadron (perhaps to clean up the Serpent Crown affair?)
  We know she was pregnant once before and the other Squadronners treated her like glass. Her youngest (Andrew?) can walk and talk, maybe 1-2 years old?
• Power Princess rejoins the Squadron

UP - 2.5 y

Kyle Richmond is elected President with Vice-President Maxwell
Based on the assumption that Squadron-Earth's US Constitution does not follow the British model of requiring a new election when confidence is lost in the current government. Rockefeller would be succeeded by his VP, or, if he resigned, by the Speaker of the House, or, if he resigned, by the next in line. (I like the suggestion that after the Overmind Affair the presidency devolved all the way down to the Postmaster General.) Kyle was elected, he did not succeed to office.

UP - 1 y

Nuke joins the Squadron.
SS#2. Tom Thumb took measurements of Nuke's power when he first joined. He refers to that file "from a year ago."

UP - 6 months

Overmind takes controll of the world of the Squadron until he is defeated by the Defenders and the Squadron Supreme.
Defenders #112-116

Utopia Project

Will fill in events of this year.

• Late March/Early April
  President Richmond resigns. The Squadron Supreme assumes power to implement a recovery program for America.
• June 18, 21
  Gilbert and Florence Gaines (Nuke's parents) die of cancer.
• August 15
  Date at which possession of an unregistered gun will become a felony.

UP + 1 y

Disappearance of the Squadron.
Death of a Universe

UP + ?

Return of the Squadron
New World Order

The Future?

UP + 443 y

Professor Imam had been saving his physical strength to train his successor at this time. It is unknown what will happen now that the professor has left this plane of existance.
Captain America#314, 2:3

3935 A.D.

First year of the reign of the Scarlet Centurion
The Graphic Novel Death of a Universe opens on the 45th year of his reign.

3979

Scarlet Centurion's Time Probes finally succeed in detecting the Nth Man's incursion into the present.

3984

Scarlet Centurion returns from the 20th Century for the last time.
Oddly, between his detecting the Nth Man and returning from the 20th Century for the last time, the Scarlet Centurion hosted Master Menace in his future for 15 years (perhaps not this far forward in the future)

4196

Death of the Scarlet Centurion?
Death of a Universe says he will live another 211 years, but does not specify when and where he will die.